diff --git content/browser/renderer_host/render_widget_host_view_aura.cc content/browser/renderer_host/render_widget_host_view_aura.cc
index 45c4dfa8d3e2..0be00ced462a 100644
--- content/browser/renderer_host/render_widget_host_view_aura.cc
+++ content/browser/renderer_host/render_widget_host_view_aura.cc
@@ -741,10 +741,12 @@ gfx::Rect RenderWidgetHostViewAura::GetViewBounds() const {
 void RenderWidgetHostViewAura::UpdateBackgroundColor() {
   DCHECK(GetBackgroundColor());
 
-  SkColor color = *GetBackgroundColor();
-  bool opaque = SkColorGetA(color) == SK_AlphaOPAQUE;
-  window_->layer()->SetFillsBoundsOpaquely(opaque);
-  window_->layer()->SetColor(color);
+  if (window_) {
+    SkColor color = *GetBackgroundColor();
+    bool opaque = SkColorGetA(color) == SK_AlphaOPAQUE;
+    window_->layer()->SetFillsBoundsOpaquely(opaque);
+    window_->layer()->SetColor(color);
+  }
 }
 
 void RenderWidgetHostViewAura::WindowTitleChanged() {
@@ -2078,6 +2080,15 @@ void RenderWidgetHostViewAura::CreateAuraWindow(aura::client::WindowType type) {
   if (frame_sink_id_.is_valid())
     window_->SetEmbedFrameSinkId(frame_sink_id_);
 
+  // Do this after |window_| is created to avoid crashes on Win10.
+  // See https://crbug.com/761389.
+  RenderViewHost* rvh = RenderViewHost::From(host_);
+  if (rvh) {
+    // TODO(mostynb): actually use prefs.  Landing this as a separate CL
+    // first to rebaseline some unreliable layout tests.
+    ignore_result(rvh->GetWebkitPreferences());
+  }
+
   if (!features::IsMultiProcessMash())
     return;